I was living in the Five Dynasties period, just after crossing the Zhongdu Bridge.

Since you're going to leave, then leave decisively.

These three hundred soldiers of Fuweidu, though said to be veterans and elites, were actually more like troublemakers "cleaned out" by Li Congxi.

That's not hard to understand.

After that battle, the survivors, having seen blood and received their rewards, became arrogant.

Li Congxi was a conservative official who couldn't control his arrogant and unruly soldiers.

So he decided to do Shen Lie a favor and send them all to him at once. This would save face and keep him in the game, a shrewd way of dealing with people in officialdom.

Shen Lie was fully aware of this, but he accepted it all without question.

The army broke camp and headed south, not taking the official roads.

Firstly, the official roads were congested with refugees, making the march extremely slow. Secondly, although Shen Lie's army was under the banner of "Yaozhou Defense Commissioner," it was still small in number and had few generals.

If they were to encounter a group of ignorant deserters or a large force of regular troops, they would inevitably face a lot of arguments and disputes, and might even be taken advantage of and swallowed up.

Thus, this mixed cavalry and infantry force of three hundred men ventured into the edge of the Lüliang Mountains west of Taiyuan, and headed south along the flank of the Fenhe River Valley.

The journey was not fast.

It wasn't that the horses were weak, nor that the three hundred soldiers who were helping the city were being lazy.

The reason is that the scenery along the way was too much of a hindrance.

What is a tripping hazard?

Nine out of ten houses in the village were empty, and corpses of starving people could be seen everywhere by the roadside.

The few living people there were also vacant, like walking corpses.

Although Yelü Deguang had the intention of returning north, the blood of the Central Plains had already been almost completely shed.

The Khitans were like wolves; they ate wherever they went, and after they finished eating, they would smash the pot.

Meanwhile, the defeated soldiers and bandits from various places were like hyenas, following behind the wolves and chewing up the remaining bone fragments.

In addition, local warlords adopted a scorched-earth policy to protect themselves, leaving the common people like rats caught in a bellows, suffering from both sides, and ultimately turning them into piles of bones by the roadside.

Shen Lie's soul, from the future, had not yet been completely worn down by this chaotic world.

So, faced with this scene, Shen Lie ultimately couldn't resist his compassion.

At first, when he saw a child crying by the roadside holding his dead mother, he would subconsciously take out a dry biscuit from his saddlebag and throw it to him.

When he saw elderly people who were barely clothed and shivering in the cold wind, he couldn't help but stop the supply wagons and distribute some old rice.

After a while, problems arose.

Although Shi Hongzhao allowed Shen Lie to take away sixty horses, he kept a tight rein on military rations.

According to the calculations of Wu Jiedu's finance official, the food rations for these three hundred people would be enough to last until Yaozhou.

The premise is that the army is on a forced march and only eats one meal a day.

Now that Shen Lie had shown such mercy, the grain sack deflated at a visible speed.

By the time they reached Jiexiu, there were already complaints among the soldiers.

No wonder.

What's the point of joining the army these days?

Isn't it all for a full meal?

It is a matter of course that an emperor would not starve his soldiers.

Now, their own garrison commander is actually using the rations of his brothers to feed those unrelated refugees. In the eyes of Yang Ting and his fellow veterans, this is simply outrageous.

"My lord, we cannot give you any more."

On this day, while resting his horse and preparing food, Yang Ting looked at the bowl of thin wheat porridge in his hand, so watery that you could see your reflection in it, and finally couldn't help but say something.

"The brothers risked their lives to follow you to Yaozhou for a better future, not to be treated like living saints! At this rate, we'll starve to death in less than three days, just like those dead ghosts on the roadside!"

Shen Lie sat on a stool, holding a dry blade of grass in his hand, without saying a word.

He knew Yang Ting was right.

In this cannibalistic world, kindness is a luxury.

Shen Lie is just a minor defense officer with three hundred lives in his hands. How could he be qualified to save all living beings?

However, he couldn't bear to watch those living people starve to death right before his eyes.

This is a logical dead end.

Reason told him that he should suppress his overflowing sympathy and be as ruthless as a true warlord of the Fifth Generation.

But his instincts told him that if he couldn't even uphold this bottom line, then what difference would he make from the Khitans?

Was all this journey just to become a man-eating beast?

Shen Lie looked up and glanced at the soldiers around him.

Although no one dared to agree with Yang Ting, the eyes that looked over clearly showed dissatisfaction and worry.

The morale of the troops is about to collapse.

If there's no explanation soon, let alone going to Yaozhou, some of these 300 people will probably desert or even mutiny soon.

"Yang Ting," Shen Lie suddenly spoke.

"Yes!" Yang Ting replied.

"How much grain do we have left?"

"If we keep eating dry food, we can last for two more days. If we drink only liquid food, we can barely last for four days," Yang Ting reported truthfully, adding at the end.

"This doesn't even include the feed for those sixty horses. If the horses run out of feed, they'll lose weight, and then they'll be lucky to even walk, let alone ride them."

Four days.

It's still quite far from Yaozhou; it would take four days to get there.

Shen Lie stood up, patted the dirt off his backside, and turned his gaze to the Lüliang Mountains to the west.

He was faced with only two paths.

Alternatively, they could rob ordinary people like the Khitans did.

But in reality, there weren't many ordinary people left to rob on the roadside; the little profit left was all bought with human lives.

Alternatively, they could only "borrow" from those who had grain in their hands.

In this chaotic world, who has food in their hands?

Aside from government officials, there were wealthy households, and besides wealthy households, there were bandits.

"Bring me the map," Shen Lie said in a deep voice.

Liu Qing quickly rummaged through his pack on horseback and pulled out a crumpled map, which he then spread out on the stone in front of Shen Lie.

Shen Lie's finger traced across the map, finally stopping at the edge of Fenzhou.

Ears aren't just for show; having helped so many refugees, I also heard some news from them.

Outside of Fenzhou, there is a place called Zhangjiawu.

This is a fortified village.

Since the southward migration during the Yongjia era, in order to protect themselves, the aristocratic families of the Central Plains often lived together in clans and built fortified villages.

During these five chaotic periods, fortified villages sprang up everywhere.

But Shen Lie had heard the refugees mention Zhangjiawu before.

The original Zhang family had long been killed. Now, the group occupying the area is a band of defeated soldiers who fled from the Taihang Mountains. Their leader is known as "Sky-Turning Hawk," and he has four or five hundred men under his command.

These people did not engage in production; they made a living solely through plunder. They even traded with passing armies, exchanging stolen women for horses and weapons.

According to the refugees, there is enough food stored in Zhangjiawu to feed several thousand people for half a year.

"Yang Ting".

Shen Lie pointed his finger at the black dot, "Pass down the order: the entire army must prepare, bring out all the remaining dry rations, and let the brothers have a good meal."

Yang Ting was taken aback: "My lord, what does this mean?"

"Not going to do it?"

"That's enough."